Life Coaching
ICF defines coaching as, “partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential. The process of coaching often unlocks previously untapped sources of imagination, productivity, and leadership.
We all have goals we want to reach; challenges we’re striving to overcome and times when we feel stuck. Partnering with a coach can change your life, setting you on a path to greater personal and professional fulfillment.”
As a certified member of ICF, I abide by the ethical and core competencies as defined by this global organization.
I trained to be a certified coach because I believe in the potential of the human person. Our world is busy and distracting. We find ourselves consistently attached to the screens of technology, texting, instant messaging, and Facebook. Professionally we go to LinkedIn to connect with other professionals with hopes of advancing our careers. Do you ever want to say, STOP? My brain feels overstimulated with all the sensory and thought messages coming at me. One of the ways I balance input from the outside is to pause, breathe, and listen to the silence.
One of the gifts of coaching that I have learned is this power of silence. Mystics of the past have read and spoken about silence. According to St. John of the Cross, God speaks in silence. The challenge for us is to learn how to speak his language. Rumi, a Persian poet of the 13th century, wrote “Silence is the language of God, all else is pure translation.” What I am trying to convey can be summarized by the French philosopher, Teilhard de Chardin: “We are not human beings on a spiritual journey. We are spiritual beings on a human journey.” So, what does this have to do with coaching?
I find that in the silence, you find your voice. When telling a story, the other person listens. There is a message in the story being told as simple as the story might be. In coaching, the client is the storyteller and the coach; through the process of questions, helps the client unfold aspects of the story that is getting in the way of transitions and desired changes.
David Drake, in his book Narrative Coaching, indicates that as a coach “I see the world through their eyes, not through mine. It is their understanding, not mine, that matters most in coaching. I am there to be their witness and not solve their problems.” This is the style of coaching that I embrace and employ professionally.
Here are just few of the testimonials I have received from my clients:
“Sharon’s questions urge you to open up, share, learn, and discover who you really are.”
“The sessions with Sharon were very valuable. She helped me look at things from a different perspective.”
Leadership Coaching
There is a core essence in all coaching and that is the client’s potential. It is here where I start. I come to this coaching relationship with the intention of helping my client to see what is possible. I often share this quote with them: “If I were to wish for anything, I should wish for the passionate sense of the potential, for the eye which, ever young and ardent sees the possible.” – Soren Kierkegaard.
In leadership coaching, I help leaders identify what they need to maximize their performance and to identify the obstacles that get in the way of their ability to lead effectively. It’s about identifying their strengths and building on them in order to work through the challenges they face on a daily basis. Through coaching, they are able to expand their circle of influence.
Today’s ever changing work environments challenge leaders to be resilient and to have the cognitive agility to shift their thinking quickly in order to adapt to the demands of the situation. What better reason than this, to engage with a coach to be the leader you are meant to be!
Here are just few of the testimonials I have received from my clients:
“It was a true pleasure to work with Sharon, she listens carefully. I truly appreciate is that she adapts her coaching style to my preferred learning style: she provided some fantastic resources that are very actionable. It allowed me to quickly come up to speed on a topic of interest to me and implement best practices. Overall, this resulted in a greater effectiveness of my efforts. it also improved my ability to listen to and better work with my direct reports. This was a great and very helpful coaching series for me. Thank you, Sharon.”
“Helping others ignite the fire to discover their potential is one of Sharon’s greatest passions and abilities…as a leader and mentor, she encourages others to grow regardless of perceived obstacles.”
“Sharon has been instrumental in getting me to meet my professional and personal goals. Sharon has a person-first perspective to her coaching that enabled a meaningful relationship. This relationship allowed me to accomplish stated goals as well as understand the underlying issues that were preventing me from accomplishing my goals and objectives in my personal and professional life. It is the understanding of these underlying issues that will be monumental in my growth. Sharon is a one-of-a-kind coach!”
Group Coaching
A WOMAN’S JOURNEY THROUGH THE SEASONS
Walking with Mindfulness, Appreciation, and Expectation
Transformative Conversations for Women
Welcome to Women’s Transformational Conversations on the seasons of the year, which focuses on our journey through the seasons.
Seasons come and go, and we experience years flying by. How often do we hear ourselves say, “Where did the year go?” Perhaps we let time slip by without being present to the moment.
Before we embark on a journey, no matter how long or short, we make sure that we pack the essentials we will need. Sometimes we pack more than we need just in case. This year’s seasonal conversations will focus on our journey as women through the seasons of our lives. I invite you to get your backpack ready and take what you think you will need for the journey.
In Autumn our destination will be Letting Go, in Winter it will be Awareness, in Spring Awakening, and in Summer our final destination will take us to Gratitude. Before we reach our final destination of Gratitude, the journey will require openness and an honest look at ourselves. Our backpacks will be filled and emptied.
Each session is planned to take some time reflecting back on the past season and reflecting on the awareness we bring as we enter another. The cycle of the seasons offers us a rich reminder of what is necessary to enter each one and embrace the spirit and meaning it holds for us. The element of each season depends on the element of the one prior… A learning and spirited journey through and within.
You will receive the readings with a few questions, upon registration, for you to reflect on prior to our meeting. I look forward to enjoying this time with you and learning from you in this gracious space.
Autum: Letting Go
Autumn brings the cooler breezes, pumpkins, flowering chrysanthemums, and the radiance and beauty of the trees. What once were rich leaves of green now reveal to us their splendor and radiance in their changing color. Yet, it is also a season of “falling away;” harvesting the many gifts that been given us making way for new ones to be born. A leaf does not lose its’ balance as it falls from the tree; rather it lets itself be carried to where it may land. It allows its equilibrium, its sense of rest and balance to be guided by the equal action of opposing forces. Let us imagine ourselves as leaves this autumn; allowing ourselves to be gently carried by the breath of the spirit to places within our hearts we may not have ever been. Would you be interested in exploring this with others?
Winter: Awareness
Our next destination is winter “Awareness.” Hopefully in letting go; we are able to be more aware of who we are and what is around us. Winter calls us to hunker down– snuggle under a cozy blanket or sit by the glow of a fire– a time to be enfolded in warmth. It is the invitation of winter to enter the warm cave of our hearts where we allow ourselves to rest, ponder, and allow our inner selves to surface and be embraced. Rather than seeking light, what if we were to quell the impulse to seek and rather let the light come naturally from the space of darkness? During the season of winter, we spend much of our day in the darkness of winter. Perhaps we can practice waiting in awareness, ever open to the light that will emerge naturally. If we can hold this awareness as a possibility, then we can be in a place where darkness and light converge into one.
Spring: Awakening
We have stepped out of the darkness of winter awareness and are invited into the light of spring awakening, like a dance. What was germinating in our spiritual self is now coming alive, breaking forth so to speak. The quote by Anais Nin comes to mind, “And then the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk to bloom.” Something happens to us in the spring. It awakens and enlivens us like no other season can. We feel lighter, new energies bloom; there is an awakening within our being that urges us with a new invitation to awaken to all that is wonderful in the world. Nature unfolds a new presentation of her beauty and fills the air with her wondrous smells of newness. We are captivated with new life. Harriet Ann Jacobs says it so beautifully, “The beautiful spring came; and when nature resumes her loveliness, the human soul is apt to revive also.”
Summer: Gratitude
Summer comes alive bringing the anticipation of rest, longer days, vacations, relaxation, seeing family and friends we haven’t seen for a while. We harvest the foods we have planted in our gardens, and we pause to sit and admire the handiwork of creation. Summer is usually the time of visible changes, in nature and in our routines. Life’s challenges don’t go away; yet just the fact that it is summer we may be able to see them differently. As with every season, summer reminds us that nothing lasts forever. As we age, the season seems to go by faster. We look back at it and say, “where has it gone? I seem to have missed it!” Give yourself permission to pause, reflect, remember, and savor the joy this season brings. What can we change in our daily routine that will help us harness the energy to revitalize our bodies, minds, and souls?
READY TO BE TRANSFORMED?
What Session Attendees Are Saying
BetterUp
About Your Coach, Sharon Scibek
Sharon Scibek trained to become a coach to fulfill her passion of guiding others to reach their full potential through professional and life coaching. Her success is built on a simple approach: an honest and respectful conversation.
Prior to becoming a Certified Coach, Sharon had a successful career in Human Resources. In addition, her career spanned being an educator in parochial schools, pastoral ministry as a liturgist, and a college professor for business education and Human Resources. Because of her varied span of careers, she brings a unique perspective to her work as a coach and facilitator of the deeper conversations.
“I am honored and delighted to add my personal endorsement to this meaningful experience. I have known Sharon as a personal and spiritual friend. I find her to be a woman of prayer, a woman of God, and a woman of spiritual depth.” – Phil Cover
“When Sharon was the President of our local HR Chapter, I was impressed with her genuine caring spirit, her connection to what was real and important in life. I remember when she spoke at any of the meetings, she always seemed to bring into the conversation the importance of nurturing our spirits. She had a very holistic, spiritual, and healing manner about her that just made me want to be like her.” – L. Brooks